Mana Feedback Sorceress [1.2]

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GodisJealous
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PlayerOne wrote:A shame to read how the build has been destroyed,

I'd be interested in your opinion as to what is the best sorc build in Sigma for (a) ubers and (b) farming?


i got lucky and found Valthek's Command SSU and thus far (lvl120) mana sorc has been great for farming, with under par gear in other slots.
i do struggle with single target, but i keep a hailstorm amy with a few ice -res and ice spell damage gear.
i think the playstyle is very fun and very viable.
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Solfege
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Crafted Scepter w/Psionic Storm oskill also works well for bosses.

Feedback Sorcs are fun, but there are still major issues with them that I hope get addressed eventually:
> Lack of dedicated gear (this isn't some hipster oskill build. There's an entire tree dedicated to it, ffs).
> Lackluster single-target damage (pretty much every boss in Hell has Phys Res. Even with maxed Immersion+Chronofield, damage is just sad).
> Expensive af (early/mid-game = need shittons of gold for MOs, which is harder to get now. End-game = need rare/expensive items to really shine).
PlayerOne
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Solfege wrote:It's being rebuilt. I've been setting aside a little time each night for playing, writing, testing, and retesting (currently doing the 115 Ubers). There's still almost no dedicated gear for Feedback Sorcs, so it's not gonna be ez game ez life during the leveling process, but it starts to pick up speed once you get some Charms.

For farming as a Sorc, Feedback is good (maybe the best Sorc farmer), but will require rare/expensive gear to really push it. For bosses, it depends. Some Sorc builds can do certain Ubers much easier than other Sorc builds. I'm biased toward melee, but Abyss Sorc may be a better boss killer.

Thanks for the reply, that's very helpful.


I saw an old guide on a cold/lightning sorc which set Abyss at 1 point. I am wondering now that immunes have been removed if it still makes sense to set it at 1 point. In fact, is it now a good idea to use one skill tree (although monsters are not immune they still have 75% damage reduction in Hell)?

If you have a moment it would be great if you could just quickly list what skills an Abyss sorc should max and what "1-pointers" it should have.

I'll keep an eye on this thread because I like the idea of mana sorc so if you ever get ih working I'll try it ;)
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Solfege
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PlayerOne wrote:Thanks for the reply, that's very helpful.

I saw an old guide on a cold/lightning sorc which set Abyss at 1 point. I am wondering now that immunes have been removed if it still makes sense to set it at 1 point. In fact, is it now a good idea to use one skill tree (although monsters are not immune they still have 75% damage reduction in Hell)?

If you have a moment it would be great if you could just quickly list what skills an Abyss sorc should max and what "1-pointers" it should have.

I'll keep an eye on this thread because I like the idea of mana sorc so if you ever get ih working I'll try it ;)


An Abyss Sorc build has been floating around for awhile, but no one seems interested in posting the build.

Maybe try something like this (Fire/Cold spec):

Max - Witch Blood, Living Flame
25 Points - Snow Queen
15 Points - Firedance
10 Points - Ice Elementals
1-5 Points - Symbol of Esu
1-4 Points – Familiar
1 Point - Abyss, Force Blast
Remaining Points - Frigid Sphere

Focus gear around +CSD/-ECR
PlayerOne
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Thanks, that looks interesting - I like the use of the Fire Tree passive skills.

It seems the only offensive skills are cold ones (Abyss, Frigid Sphere and StF); is that ok these days now that immunes are gone?

(The Sigma patch notes mention removing monster immunities so I guess you can kill anything if you have enough damage?)

Also interesting choice of Witch Blood over Chronofield. I imagine you don't need the slow effect if youy have Ice Elementals to tank? And Act V merc?
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Solfege
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Using mostly Cold spells should be fine for most things. There are still some immune enemies, but not sure if there are any Elemental immunes (Iron Giants in Yshari are still Phys/Magic immune, for example).

If you need help killing Cold Absorb enemies, use Flamestrike. It's still strong, even at 1 point (buff with Firedance if needed).

Spec Chronofield if you need slow for some bosses, but otherwise Living Flame+Witchblood is a pretty good pairing b/c the regen makes it easier to maintain Life above 90%.

A5 Barb or A2 Shapeshifter are probably the best choices. They're tanky and their buffs will further boost your Elemental damage. You shouldn't have the same problem as an Elemental caster that a Feedback build does with these mercs (except maybe when using StF).
PlayerOne
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Thanks again Solflege, that all makes sense; I'll try to avoid hijacking your mana sorc thread any further!
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Mana feedback damage is.... physical magic, right ?

And its better in tihs case to hoard flat mana not energy ? It takes into account flat mana not energy when calculating feedback damage ?

spell damage affects immersion and arcane torrent, but not mana feedback, I guess.
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Solfege
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As it applies to enemy resistances, it's counted as Phys. Immersion and Mana Sweep are pure Feedback damage, and Arcane Torrent is Feedback+Magic damage.

The damage calculations for Feedback spells are based on Mana, not just base NRG. So both flat Mana and NRG are good. It's only the Psicrown and Psionic Storm oskills that do damage based on base NRG.

Spell Damage, Phys/Magic Spell Damage, and Energy Factor have no effect on Feedback spells. Only more Mana, more skill points into Feedback spells, and -Enemy Phys Res will boost them.
Ruubel
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Thnx, I found Valthek command and therefore worth of try.